Editorial: the world of medieval islands

Abstract

The articles accompanying this one study a range of medieval island situations, varying in size, location, internal complexity, economic potential and political loyalties. The geographical range is similarly broad, encompassing the length of the Mediterranean Sea and stretching onwards into the Indian Ocean. This article therefore extracts comparisons from the articles its authors have here edited. Against a broader historiographical and theoretical background, it aims to isolate the common characteristics of what is here termed “islandness” and the key gradients along which those characteristics vary. These are identified as size and internal complexity, location within wider spaces, relationship to a frontier, and social position between connectivity and isolation. While most islands fit in this matrix, the category remains fuzzy; not all geographical islands were always “island-like” and some areas not surrounded by water were. The article thus sets up models of thinking about islands for comparison with other areas and periods.